


Talking Dreams

by ShipsInTheNight



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/M, Lydia POV, Lydia and Allison, Stiles POV, Stydia, post season 3B
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-11-11
Packaged: 2018-03-16 13:53:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,204
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3490787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShipsInTheNight/pseuds/ShipsInTheNight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Lydia?”</p>
<p>A voice calls out. Prying her into consciousness.</p>
<p>“Lydia!?”</p>
<p>It’s a little louder now. Pleading even.</p>
<p>“LYDIA!”</p>
<p>This time it screams. And she recognizes it instantly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Now this is just kind of like a really short intro into the story that I want to tell. I was going to make the chapter longer but I really wanted to get it out and so it felt right to break it off where I did. The next chapters will be longer and more plot driven. The other characters/relationships will also be used. It will be set along the timeline of season 4, but not everything will be the same. Including relationships because it's always fun to experiment with other ideas. For now it will be Lydia POV but I'm thinking of adding others along the way. Enjoy!

The water pelts down on her like rain. It’s hot, a little too hot, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. She continues to stand under the shower-head with her eyes pressed shut and her matted, red mane cascading over her shoulders and down her chest. Sinking deeper into subconsciousness while trying to drown out the hammering of voices inside her head...

  
...the voices that have only gotten louder since the pack returned from Mexico yesterday morning.

  
Slowly she starts to feel the tension in her muscles subside. She has been in here for a while, to the point where the hot water is starting to leave red blotches on her pale skin. But she continues to let the water wash over her body and over her mind. She can’t quite make out what these voices are saying though. It’s a constant, rambling that doesn’t seem to want to die down. She finally just throws her head back and lets the water rush over her face. It really has been a long day. Every day in Beacon Hills is a long day for the pack though. It hasn’t even been a full 24 hours since they returned home and so much has happened…

  
_Mexico, The Calaveras, young Derek, the body at the gas station, berserkers, the vault under the school, 117 million dollars…_

Something big was happening around them, and the pack needed answers. Soon.

  
When the water finally starts to lose its heat, the drenched redhead decides that it’s time to get out. When she opens her eyes she sees the steam that is fogging up the glass walls of the shower around her, blocking her view like a barrier.

  
A creature of habit, she wipes off the steam just enough so that she can peek out into the inside of the bathroom before stepping out of the door. In Beacon Hills who knows what is going to be waiting for you when you least expect it? Like a berserker, or a Darach, or a werewolf, or even a psycho stalker that has too much free time to take photos and control kanimas.

…

The first thing Lydia notices when she enters her bedroom is the clock on her nightstand flashing 2:07 AM. It’s her first night back in her own bed in almost a week and she doesn’t even have five full hours until she has to be up for school.  
Sleep won’t come easy though, it hasn’t in months. So she does what she always does, climbs into bed and pulls a pillow over her head and hopes that she can block out the voices just enough so that she can drift to sleep.

***************************************************************

_“Lydia?”_  
 

A voice calls out. Prying her into consciousness.  
 

_“Lydia!?”_

It’s a little louder now. Pleading even.

_“LYDIA!”_

This time it screams. And she recognizes it instantly.

Lydia’s eye jerk open and she’s met with a rush of cool air. She’s outside, standing even. She doesn’t remember leaving her house, but she has a habit of traveling to strange places in the middle of the night.

What she finds even stranger though is that there is no buzzing happening inside her mind. For the first time in a long time her mind is clear. It’s quiet, almost too quiet.

Lydia looks down and sees her bare legs and feet. She is still in her pajamas, barefoot. Taking in her surroundings, she realizes that she is standing in the middle of a street, facing an unfamiliar house. It’s a seemingly normal, two-story family home.

Her eyes are drawn to the large wooden door in the middle of the house with a big glass panel taking up almost all of it. 

Slowly, as if on instinct, her head shifts from the door to the mailbox only a few feet in front of her. She gets an eerie feeling because she knows for sure that she has never been to this house before, but she also knows for that she is reading the name correctly.

_ARGENT_

Then she hears it again. The voice is so loud it makes Lydia’s head throb and tears well in her eyes.

_“LYDIA!”_

Allison.

Just thinking of her name breaks some kind of barrier in her mind and the voices come flooding back.

_“LYDIA HELP ME!”_

Her best friend's voice is coming from the inside of the house. The banshee starts to sprint towards the house and up the front steps until she’s at the front door. She can see shadows moving on the other side of the glass, but it’s too dark too see much else. She pulls at the door handle frantically, put it’s locked. She pounds on the door while her heart pounds out of her chest.  
 

“ALLISON?!” She yells in response, “Can you hear me!?”

Still pounding on the door she keeps yelling, “I’m here Allison! Please open the door!”

No one responds and tears are falling down Lydia’s cheeks. She hears loud, shattering noises coming from the inside of the house. Allison always puts up a fight.

Still calling out for Allison, Lydia runs towards the back door of the house. Finding it locked as well she turns towards the windows. Nothing will budge.  
The screaming inside the house starts again and Lydia begins to panic. The voices in her head start screaming at her and the pain is excruciating.

_“LYDIA HELP!”_

Lydia can feel the desperation and fright in hunter’s voice and it is heartbreaking because Allison is one of the toughest people she knows and now Lydia can hear her begging for life.

She knows she doesn’t have much time so Lydia sprints back to the front door and starts banging on the glass as hard as she can. It’s too strong for her, but it wouldn’t be for Allison.

Just then an idea pops into her head. She steps away from the door until she’s at a good distance. With everything she has she runs towards the door aiming for the glass panel. Right before she makes contact, she throws her shoulder forward. The instant her body crashes into the glass it shatters around her and in that second she feels a burst of pain shoot through her body.

She comes flying through the door in what feels like slow-motion. Her body goes still as if time had stopped. She lifts her head up too see what’s happening in front of her as her own self hangs in midair. Allison is standing there, but she’s not looking at Lydia, she’s looking at the dark, shadowy figure in front of her.

Before Lydia has time to call out her name it happens. The hooded figure thrusts a metal, sword-like object deep into Allison’s chest. That is the moment Allison finally turns toward her and Lydia sees the life drain from the brave hunter’s eyes as she falls to the ground.

Lydia tries to scream, but nothing comes out. She is still frozen in the air. Shards of glass are hovering around her.

The hooded figure steps over the lifeless body of her best friend. When it is standing directly in front of Lydia, it slowly lowers its hood and time comes rushing back.

She falls fast towards the ground, but instead of making contact she just keeps falling. Everything goes black but not before she feels her stomach drop at the sight of the familiar face with the sinister grin under the black hood.

_Stiles._


	2. Chapter 2

When Lydia was just a little girl her grandmother explained to her the difference between a nightmare and a night terror.

She spent many weekends at her grandmother’s lake house before she passed. They would have the whole weekend to themselves. Their time was mainly spent baking, playing the piano, and reading. Her grandmother was big on reading.

In fact, Lydia was determined not to fall asleep unless her grandmother would let her read their favorite fairytale together aloud. It was always the same, night after night, weekend after weekend. 

_The Little Mermaid._

One night though, when she was only eight years old, Lydia awoke to her grandmother’s gentle shaking. She was disoriented at first, her heart racing and she could feel little sweat beads on her forehead.

“What happened?” Lydia remembers asking while her grandmother wiped the perspiration off of her forehead with the back of her hand. “What’s going on?”

“Oh my dear girl,” her grandmother answered, her voice soothing, “it appears you had a night terror.”

“A night terror?” Lydia asked, “Like a nightmare?”

“No, no. A night terror is a frightening dream that you don’t remember. It’s so scary that you may wake up and scream or cry, but you’ll fall right back asleep with no memory of it whatsoever. A nightmare on the other hand,” her grandmother said, “is something you’ll remember even after the screaming and crying is done.”

“Did I scream Grandma?” Lydia asked intrigued by the idea of nightmares and night terrors.

“Oh scream you did,” her grandmother answered, “and it was loud enough to even wake me up. Now that’s saying something. You’ve got quite the scream little Miss Lydia.”

Lydia frowned at the mention of her name.

“Grandma, you know that’s not my name.”

Her grandmother smiled as she stood up and pulled the covers over Lydia’s body and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“Of course not,” she said, “now goodnight my lovely Ariel.”

Lydia smiled this time.  Her grandmother left the room, but Lydia laid awake wondering what it could have been that caused her to wake up screaming in the middle of the night with no memory of it at all.

 

**********

Lydia knew the second her eyes snapped open, that this was no night terror.

Her throat was burning from the scream she let out in her unconscious state. She sat straight up in her bed, her mind racing, and her thoughts hysterical.

At the moment, her heart was beating louder than the ringing in her head. She wiped off the sweat from her palms onto her comforter and swiped her forehead with the back of her forearm.

Tears had fallen down her cheeks and were blotting on her tank top. For a second, she looked down and just watched the tears drip down and splatter like water balloons on concrete.

 It was punishment enough to have to deal with her best friend’s death in real life, so why did she have to relive it in her dreams?

_Why was this happening again?_

It had been months since Lydia had had this nightmare. Only this time it was different. This time they were at a random house instead of Oak Creek.

For weeks after Allison’s death, Lydia would wake up in hysterics. Watching Allison die over and over again and not being able to save her in time. Lydia became so withdrawn from the pack that month, especially with Stiles. It got so bad that Scott decided that something had to be done and Lydia spent the next few weeks staying with Kira. It seemed that she could sleep better when she wasn’t alone.

As time passed, the nightmares started to diminish. Lydia finally could grieve the hunter’s death in peace, and she could start looking at and being around Stiles without the sickening feeling in her stomach that she got whenever she thought about the way she felt the night in the tunnels when she felt Allison’s death rip through her.

_Hopefully it is just a onetime thing and it only happened because I was just stressed out about all the stuff that’s happened this last week. Things will go back to normal now and I’ll be able to sleep in peace._

Lydia felt pretty confident with her thoughts. But she knew she had to keep this from the pack. She didn’t want them to worry over something that wasn’t anything.

She especially couldn’t tell Stiles. He already hasn’t fully forgiven himself for all the things that happened when he was possessed by the nogitsune and letting him know that Lydia still dreamt of him as a monster would do more harm than good.

Her heart rate started to drop and her tears were gone, but her throat was so dry Lydia knew she had to drink something.

After coming back upstairs after drinking a glass of water, she crawled into bed and laid on her side. She didn’t sleep at all after that. She just stared at her alarm clock and thought about how she would’ve much rather had her dream be a night terror than a nightmare.

 

**********

 

“Are you going to come watch the lacrosse tryouts with us?” Lydia hears Kira ask, causing her to look up from the food on her tray.  The kitsune was looking at her with begging eyes.

Before she answered, Lydia took another drink of her apple juice and set it down on the cafeteria table. She really didn’t want to go and watch something as simple as lacrosse after the sleepless night she had. Plus she was kind of over lacrosse ever since the whole Jackson kanima thing, and not to mention the almost dying on the field thing. She didn’t want anyone to know something was up though so she made a decision.

“Yeah, sure,” she answered, feigning interest.

Kira smiled at her. She looked genuinely happy and that made Lydia feel a little better about sitting through tryouts.  

Lydia smiled back. Then they heard a huff and looked over at Malia who was tearing apart the turkey wrap on her tray.

“What is the point of all this,” the were-coyote said while scraping out all of the lettuce in her wrap, “I swear sometimes I miss being in the woods. At least I had an unlimited supply of deer and not this rabbit food.” Malia pulled out a piece of cucumber and flicked it on the ground.

“Vegetables,” Lydia says to her friend, “they are healthy.”

“Yeah, whatever,” Malia says back with a mouthful of turkey while standing up, “I’m going to go buy some pizza.”

Lydia and Kira both shake their heads and Kira laughs while Malia walks away from the table.

“So how do you think the algebra exam is going to be tomorrow? I’ve been studying a lot but there are still some things I get stuck on, but your notes help a lot. I think Malia’s still having trouble though,” Kira says.

“I’m not worried about it,” Lydia says back because honestly she wasn’t, she was passing that class with an A. Algebra was the least of her worries.

“Well of course you’re not,” Kira says, “You have a 4.0 in every class.” Her head shifts to Malia who’s still impatiently waiting in line for her pizza, “I’m a little worried about Malia though, because she really wants to be a senior with us next year.”

“I’ll give her some more of my notes after school today,” Lydia says, “that way she’ll have all the information from the whole chapter.”

Kira smiles at her and Lydia really is grateful for the kitsune. Since Allison, she has been the one that Lydia could turn to. Not that she can’t turn to Malia, but she’s still adjusting to all things human.

“Scott,” Lydia hears Kira call out to the sound of approaching footsteps. The dark haired girl gives out a smile and a wave to the figure behind Lydia.

Oh no.

If Scott is behind her that can only mean…

“Hey Lydia, Kira, where’s Malia,” Stiles asks while taking the seat next to Lydia that Malia had just vacated. Scott walks around and takes the seat next to Kira while she fills Stiles in on the Malia vegetable situation.

Lydia feels her heart start pounding like it did last night when her nightmare caused her wake almost hysterical in the middle of the night.

Even though she reminded herself that the dream meant nothing and that it’s not his fault that Allison, her best friend, is dead she still couldn’t shake the feeling of guilt she got when she looked at Stiles.

Lydia couldn’t tell him about the dream she had last night. But Stiles, unfortunately, is one of the only people who can see through the wall Lydia builds around herself. He will end up getting the hint that something is up.

She feels something hit her ankle under the table. She looks across from her to see Scott staring at her with a questioning look on his face. She truly couldn’t hide anything from anyone. Of course Scott would notice the spike in her heart rate. He was probably sensing all of the emotions coming off of her too. Not knowing what else to do she shot him a stern look hoping he would get the hint and drop it.

The alpha rolled his eyes, but he didn’t say anything. She knew that he was going to try talking to her about it later though, but she was still glad he didn’t say anything now. She was also glad that Stiles hadn’t noticed the exchange that took place between her and Scott because he was still chatting with Kira.

“I’m here,” Malia says while taking the seat next to Stiles and setting down a plate with two pieces of pizza on top. Stiles reaches over to grab one and Malia swats his hand away.

“Back off,” she says while motioning to the sandwich on Stiles plate, “You’ve got your own.”

Lydia starts picking at her own sandwich when she hears Malia say, “What’s up with you?”

 No one responds and Lydia realizes that she’s talking to her.

Lydia turns her head to see Malia facing her with a questioning look.

“And don’t say nothing, because I can smell the anxiety on you. It’s almost as bad as Stiles.”

“Hey now…,” Stiles starts to interject but it’s too late because Scott and Kira had already taking interest in the conversation and were now looking at Lydia as well.

Not knowing how to respond without telling them that she was having dreams again, Lydia shrugged, “I don’t know how to explain. Sometimes I just hear and feel things I can’t control. It’s a…”

Before she could finish Kira interrupts, “a banshee thing, right?” Lydia nods, knowing that there is no way that Kira believed that, but it was her way to change the subject. Another reason she was grateful for the kitsune, she could pick up on her deflections quickly without prodding.

 Malia had obviously lost interest in the conversation because she was back eating her pizza, and Kira and Scott continued talking about his lacrosse tryouts, but Stiles shot her a worried look.

“Don’t worry about it,” Lydia says to him while twisting the cap of her juice, “it’s nothing.”

 She takes a drink ending the conversation. Stiles just shrugs and digs into the food on his plate like he’s never had nourishment before. For being so small, and not to mention so human, the boy ate like a wolf.

 

**********

 

The rest of lunch went by without any more talk about Lydia. She was off the hook for now. At least that’s what she thought until she excused herself from algebra class during the last period of the day to go to the restroom which also meant stopping at her locker afterwards to kill some extra time.

“Lydia wait!” a voice yells at her from down the hall. She cringes before she backs away from the inside of her locker and turns her head to see Stiles making his way down the hall gasping for breath.

“Man,” he says, “those heels must give you the ability to walk faster than the average human.” He gives a slight grin at his own joke. Leave it to Stiles to laugh at his own jokes.

“Stiles what are you doing here? Were you following me?” Lydia asks, getting to the point.

“Oh trust me, it’s not the first time I’ve walked out of class for no reason. Besides Malia told me how she’s smelled anxiety on you all day and not just during lunch. So tell me,” he says, “what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, okay. I guess I’m still a little shaken up from yesterday.” In some ways that was the truth. “You know the whole bit when I found a violently torn apart body in the gas station and the part when we almost got ripped apart by berserkers. Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to go back to class.”

Lydia turns around swishing her red locks behind her but before she can walk away she feels a gentle hand grab her forearm.

“Seriously Lydia?” Stiles says, “You know you can’t lie to me. I may not be supernatural, but we’ve been through enough together to know when something is bothering thee Lydia Martin.”

She feels the guilt sweep through her because she knows that she has to tell him. It was pointless trying to keep something from Stiles. The others may have heightened senses, but Stiles is truly one of the only people who can see right through her.

“What do you want me to say Stiles?” Lydia says while turning to meet his gaze, “that since we came back from Mexico something hasn’t felt right and I think something is happening that we aren’t ready for?”

“Is that really it?” Stiles asks, “Or are you just deflecting, because you know you are the queen of deflection.” His tone is bit more annoyed now.

Telling him about the dream would hurt him. It was already hard enough for him to get over what happened while he was possessed, and telling him will just make him relive it more than he already does.

“You had another dream didn’t you,” Stiles says without question, almost like he read her mind. His words cut through her life a knife.

There was no way she could deny it now. He and the rest of the pack deserved the truth.

“How… How did you…” Lydia mutters, and it’s not like Lydia Martin to mutter.

“Just answer me please,” Stiles says now a hint of begging in his voice.

Without speaking, Lydia responds by gently moving her head up and down.

For a second he was motionless. For a second she didn’t know what his reaction was going to be. Then he reached over and slammed the locker shut. At first she thought he might be angry. But when he looked at her, he looked more hurt than anything.

“Look Stiles,” she manages to spit out, “I don’t know what to say. I can’t control it. I honestly thought they were done. I haven’t had one in months.”

She hated seeing Stiles hurt, because he has always been there for her even back when she was with Jackson and they weren’t really even friends. They still had an unspoken bond.

“How many?” Stiles asks her while looking down at the floor.

“Just last night,” she answers, “but it wasn’t like the others.”

She knew he didn’t want to know but he asks anyways.

“What do you mean? I thought they were all the same.” Stiles looks up at her now and their eyes meet.

“The others, well you know, they were all at Oak Creek in the tunnel. But this time, we were at a house and the pack wasn’t there, it was just me. Just me, you...” Lydia gulped before she spoke again,  
“and Allison.”

Stiles sighs and rests his head on the half open locker door. She didn’t want to give vivid details of how he watched him kill her best friend because Stiles was already living with that evil.

Even though the pack has tried numerous times to convince him that it wasn’t his fault, Stiles hasn’t let go of his guilt about what happened with Allison. He still believes that in way, it was his fault for letting the nogitsune control him, and his fault that he’s here and Allison’s not.

“I’m sorry Stiles,” Lydia says feeling actual tears start to form in her eyes. She couldn’t cry. Not here. She had to stay strong, especially for the fragile boy in front of her.

“No, don’t,” Stiles answers, “it’s not your fault Lydia, don’t ever think that it is.”

Before she could rebuttal she hears Stiles’ phone start beeping in his pocket. He pulls it out and reads the message with a scrunched look on his face like he’s trying to figure something out.

“What is it?” Lydia asks, intrigued and concerned.

“I’m not sure,” he answers without giving any more information, “an actual civilian crime maybe. I don’t know but I’ve got to go find Scott.” He starts to turn away when Lydia blurts out…

“Stiles wait!” she lets out a breath while he turns to face her with hurt still on his face, “don’t you think we should talk about this?”

“What is there too say?” Stiles asks, “If it happens again, please don’t try to hide it from me. It won’t help.”

At a loss for words for once in her life, Lydia stands and watches as one of the people she cares about most in the world walks away from her. Leaving her standing alone in the hallway.

 

***********************************************

 

“..and then he ran back and kissed me. Like a real kiss, not just a peck your grandmother kind of kiss. I couldn’t even think because my heart was beating so fast.”

 Lydia looked over at the kitsune and gave her a small smile.

 “That’s great,” Lydia says to her, “I told you he was totally into you.” That made Kira beam even more.

 Kira hadn’t stopped smiling since she started talking about her and Scott’s “epic” kiss in the hallway. Lydia was happy for her two friends. And honestly it was about time that Scott made a move.

 The two girls then hear a huff and the tiniest growl. Malia, who’s sitting on the other side of Kira, is staring down at the notebook in her lap, brow furrowed, obviously frustrated.

 “What is the point of all this?” Malia says while slamming her notebook closed and rolling her head back with a sigh. “Math is stupid, and it makes me feel even stupider.”

 “Well for one,” Lydia says back to her, “stupider isn’t a word and math is important.”

 Kira adds in with a more encouraging tone, “Why don’t you just take a break? We’re at lacrosse tryouts. You can always study tonight.”

 “Oh yeah, here are some more of my notes,” Lydia adds in while fetching her notes out of her bag, feeling bad for being a little harsh before. “Trust me, if you study them there’s no way you won’t be a senior with us next year.”

 “Yeah thanks anyways,” Malia says, “but it’s going to take a miracle for me to find out the value of x.”

The lacrosse team finally makes their way out onto the field for tryouts. Instead of looking at the players though, Lydia looks at her friends and sees Kira’s eyes glued to Scott. He’s in the front of the pack, literally, while the team runs their warm up laps. Malia isn’t even looking at the field, she’s too busy staring down at the book in her lap and violently highlighting what looks like every sentence. Lydia flicks her eyes back to the field and they trail behind the group of lacrosse players to the back where Stiles is trying to make his rounds around the field. “Trying” being the key word.

 He eventually gives up the running thing and starts walking back towards his teammates who have already finished the warmup. It was a bad choice to be watching him, because as soon as her eyes find him he looks up and their eyes meet. Lydia doesn’t need any supernatural abilities to see the guilt and shame that floods his face when they connect.

 Almost as fast as their eyes met, Stiles turns away and Lydia looks down at her hand folded in her lap. She can’t help but think about how not so smoothly their conversation in the hallway had went…

 

 “Lydia…” “Hey, Lydia...”

Lydia looks up to a hand waving in front of her face. A hand that belongs to Malia.

“You were just like zoned out or something,” Malia says, “were you having some psychic banshee vision or something?”

“Come on Malia,” Kira adds, “remember that banshees aren’t psychic. They don’t see things, they hear things.”

“Right,” Lydia adds feeling a loss of patience for Malia’s pressing. She was honestly just too overwhelmed by everything today and she just wanted to go home.

Before her friends could change her mind, the redhead starts to stand up and wipes off her skirt, while slinging her purse on her shoulder.

“Where are you going?” Kira asks, “The tryouts literally just started.”

Lydia looks out on the field while some older player knocks a little freshman to the ground.

“I’m tired,” she answers trying hard not to sound rude, “and bored. Plus my mom wants me to take some things to the lake house with her later and we still have that algebra test. You might not believe it, but I study too.”

Kira shrugs, looking as if she was wondering whether she should say something or just let Lydia go in piece. The kitsune did the latter, and with a quick goodbye to her and the were-coyote Lydia climbed off the bleachers and strode to the parking lot to her car.

**********

Once in her car, Lydia rolled down the windows and started to drive. She finds a kind of peace in just rolling down the windows and letting her red curls fly in the wind. She turns up the radio a bit and starts the drive home.

After she had been driving a while, a figure appears out of nowhere directly in front of her car. Lydia slams down on her brakes while her body lurches forward and then slams back into the seat.

“Holy shit,” she says even though she knows no one can hear her. She looks out the driver’s side window to see a dog walking carelessly off of the street into the yard of the house across from her.

That’s when Lydia noticed something strange.

She didn’t recognize the house the dog ran up to or the next one or the next one. She slowly pulls her car over from the middle of the street to the curb and puts it in park and cuts the ignition. She doesn’t even know what street she’s on. This was definitely not the way she drives home from school every day. But she couldn’t shake the fact that she’s been here before.

It was like the gas station with Kira yesterday. She didn’t have the intention to go there, hell she didn’t even need gas, but she found her way there. She found her way to another dead body. Did that mean there was a body nearby? Oh god she hoped not. She was not in the mood to deal with that.

She got out of the car and started walking slowly down the sidewalk. Before she realized it, blocks went by but she couldn’t stop. As she kept walking, the feeling inside her to keep going got stronger as well as a buzzing inside of her head.

Her heartbeat quickened when she finally saw it. It had to be it. After walking god knows how far down the same street, Lydia turned towards the row of houses opposite her. There it was right in front of her.

It was the door. The same massive wooden door with the large glass panel in the middle. Except that instead of being shattered to bits, this glass was fully intact. But the yellow police tape warring off visitors is what caused her to cross the street and climb up the front porch steps.

When she got close enough, Lydia reached out and touched the door with her hand. It was real. This wasn’t a dream. This time though, there was no noise coming from the inside. No screams. No Allison.

Lydia shivered at the thought of seeing the hunter fall to the ground in that very house. Except it never happened it was only a nightmare.

She remembered the conversation she had with Scott after her encounter with Stiles. Apparently Stiles received an alert from the Sheriff’s office about a triple homicide in Beacon Hills at the Walcott’s.

Sure enough, when Lydia looked over at the same mail box she had seen the last name _Argent_ on last night, it said _Walcott._

This confused her. If the bodies were already found, what led her here? She wished there was some kind of banshee rule book that told her what everything meant. But instead, she had to learn as she went which was beyond frustrating at times.

Not knowing what she was supposed to do, Lydia reached down and placed her hand the doorknob. Expecting it to be locked, she waited for a minute before she turned it. Her mind was racing. She rested her head against the cool glass of the door for a beat. She opened her eyes and saw darkness inside the house. Slowly, she started to turn the knob. To her surprise the knob turned with her, opening the door with a slight creak.

Lydia stepped inside the house and closed the door behind her. She didn’t know what she expected to find.  But she knew she was hear for a reason. Allison had led her here for a reason.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to stray away from the actual season 4 story line mostly so that what happens next isn't totally expected and I'm putting my own twists to it. There is a lot of Stydia in this but not just in a romantic way. I'm trying to take it slow because their relationship is so complex on so many levels. I keep changing my mind on where I want to go with this story so thanks for being patient with me.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lydia encounters more than just dead bodies at the Walcott house.

The door latches behind her with a thud. Besides that, the house is quiet and unsettling. Lydia isn’t sure if it’s actually cold in the house or if it’s the eerie feeling looming inside of her that causes her to shiver.

Her head turns and her eyes do a slow sweep from side to side. There is a wall to her left, and on her right is an open living room with a staircase on the back wall. Directly in front of her is a long hallway. It’s too dark to see what’s on the end of it since the only light in the house is coming from the glass panel on the front door.

It’s strange to see these things and these rooms. The exterior of the house may be the same, but Lydia doesn’t recall anything about the interior of the house from her nightmare. Sure the only actual time she spent inside of the house was when she was crashing through the glass, but it had felt like she was watching Allison for an eternity. During that entire time Lydia was only focused on her best friend, and not what was around her.

Without moving, she presses her right hand against the wall behind her. Slowly she slides her palm around the wall hoping to find a light switch. After no luck, she takes a couple steps towards the right and feels again. She finds one and flips the switch up.

The living room illuminates with a soft glow. Lydia can finally make out her exact surroundings. Everything from the furniture to the pictures on the wall seem in place. Nothing looks like it has been touched, let alone murdered, in this room.

There has to be something here in this house though. Lydia knows she wouldn’t have ended up here if there wasn’t. Just as fast as they started when Lydia got out of her car, the whispers stop. They are replaced with a dull buzzing. Lydia thinks that it kind of sounds like the running of an old machine of some sort. An exasperating noise that most people would get used to and be able to just block out. Not Lydia though.

After deciding that nothing in the living room is off, Lydia begins to explore the first floor of the home. She walks right past the staircase into the room that is off to the left. It’s only a dining room that once again, looks completely in place. Nothing has happened in here.

Nothing has appeared to have happened in the kitchen either. Lydia takes a quick look around though. On the back wall of the kitchen is the back door that Lydia remembers frantically pulling in her nightmare. Curious, she walks up to the door and grabs the handle. She pulls. Sure enough, it’s locked.

While her hand is still on the handle, a faint, creaking sound comes from another room. Lydia is certain that it is the creaking of footsteps against the hardwood. She starts walking towards the entryway of the kitchen, but by the time she gets there the noise stops. Now is a time where she actually wishes that she had Stiles’ damn baseball bat. Unlike her supernatural friends, all Lydia has is her petite, human strength.

She begins to second guess herself. The noise could have just been in her head. Or it could have been the wind outside…

_No. I know what I heard and I know that I’m not the only one here in this house. I can feel it._

It’s hard to put on a brave front because her heart is pounding like a jack hammer in her chest. She may go up against dangerous things often but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get to her.

She takes a few deep breaths and exits the kitchen. Her breath catches in her throat and she feels like she just had a mini heart attack when she sees a figure standing with its back to her at the foot of the stair case.

_Breathe, Lydia, breathe._

But it’s hard, and her breath is coming out in huffs and it keeps catching on the way out. She closes her eyes and shakes her head side to side as if she is shaking the image out of her head.

When she opens her eyes, it’s still there. She thinks that this can’t be real.

_Tall, black gloves, leather jacket, brown boots._

“Are you real?” Lydia manages to say in a whisper.

The figure stands in place while it turns its head back towards Lydia. Its brown hair swishes away, leaving the figure’s face uncovered.

Lydia opens her mouth as if to say something, but no words come out. She just stares. The figure locks eyes with Lydia and it feels as if someone is ripping out the banshee’s heart.

“Allison?” Lydia whispers.

The hunter doesn’t respond. Instead, she slowly lowers her hand up to her face. Lydia watches her as she presses one finger up against her mouth as if she is telling Lydia to “shhh.”

Lydia raises an eyebrow at the girl in front of her but keeps her mouth closed. The hunter looks as if she is about to turn her whole body towards Lydia, but instead, she stops halfway and starts climbing up the stairs. Not knowing what to do or if should follow, Lydia stands still and watches the girl as she slowly climbs each stair until she is out of sight.

 

She takes a second to catch her breath before she decides what she is going to do. Her best friend could be upstairs in this house this very second…

_Or I’m just whacked out of my mind. Welcome back to crazy town, Lydia._

Lydia tries to think, but the buzzing has gotten louder and isn’t allowing her to concentrate. Frustrated and without weighing her options, she walks briskly to the stairs and climbs.

 ********************

At the top of the stairs is a hallway. There is a door on each side of the hall and down the hall is a wall that forks the walkway to the left and the right.

Lydia has no idea what is up here or where the hunter is or if she is even still here. She is looking around a house where a triple homicide took place the night before for her best friend who has been dead for months. When the red haired banshee thinks about it that way she realizes how ridiculous it sounds.

She walks down the hall and checks each door to the right and the left of her. One is just an empty closet and the other is a small bedroom littered with toys and sports equipment. She doesn’t see any sign of struggle, but Lydia feels pity because the young boy who used to sleep here is now dead.

She closes the bedroom door behind her as she walks out. When she reaches the end of this hall she looks to her right. There are two closed doors. She then turns her head to her left. Directly in front of her is a single door that is open ajar. Light is streaming through the small crack. Lydia walks up to the door and gives it a slight push.

The hunter is there. Standing directly across from Lydia, but facing the window. Her head is hanging down and it appears as if she has her arms crossed in front of her. At first Lydia thinks she looks peaceful. The sun is shining on her through the window and illuminating the girl’s brunette locks.

“Allison…,” Lydia calls out while her voice in on the verge of breaking, “whaattt... whaatt-

Unable to get the words out, Lydia clears her throat. As she does the hunter starts to slowly turn around. It’s the first time Lydia sees her face since she entered the house.

Lydia tries to keep her hazel eyes locked with Allison’s. A flood of warmth flows through Lydia when she stares into the light brown eyes of her best friend. It feels familiar. It is a feeling Lydia hasn’t had since before she died. She gives the hunter a sad smile because she doesn’t even know if this is real. Lately, Lydia has had no idea what is real and what is not.

Allison gives her a small smile back. Lydia feels her eyes start to water. The smile didn’t quite reach her eyes, and that makes Lydia sad. Real or not, she just wants her best friend to be happy even if she isn’t actually here.

“Hi Lydia,” Allison says softly with her small smile.

Lydia is stunned to hear the girl’s voice like this. So… normal. Like nothing has changed. The tears that had welled in the corner of her eyes start to slip at the sound of her voice. She looks down to try to hide all of the emotion on her face.

Bad idea.

When Lydia looks down she sees blood. Lots of blood. There is nothing peaceful about the blood piling at the girl’s feet. Each drop crashes onto the ground and splatters on the carpet like a paintball. It’s coming from a wound in the hunter’s abdomen. Allison notices Lydia’s stare and presses her hands against the wound, shielding it from the banshee’s view.

Lydia feels sick. Her stomach feels like it has fallen from inside of her and landed on the floor. She stands frozen in her tracks.

“What… happened…?” Lydia whispers. She watches as blood pours out from between the hunter’s fingers, covering her hands in red.

Allison doesn’t speak until Lydia looks back up at her face. When their eyes meet she gives her another half-smile before opening her mouth.

“Don’t worry about me Lydia,” Allison says calmly with her hands still pressed against her stomach, “I know what you are going to ask and no it doesn’t hurt. Dying doesn’t hurt as much as you’d think.”

Tears are falling faster now. They are hot tears that burn Lydia’s cheeks on the way down before they splatter on the ground.

Before she can speak, Allison opens her mouth again. 

“Don’t be sad,” her best friend says, “It was for you, Lydia. It was for all of you.”

Lydia doesn’t understand.

“What are you talking about Allison?” she asks, “What was for me?”

She doesn’t answer. Instead, she just looks at her best friend but it’s like the hunter isn’t looking at her, it’s like she’s looking right through her. Lydia examines her pale face and sees the sadness in her light brown eyes turn to fear.

“LYDIA LOOK OUT!” the hunter screams piercingly, and it makes Lydia feel as if her head had burst open. The intensity of the scream sends Lydia falling to the ground holding her head in pain.

She has just enough time to fall out of the way as a big, sharp object goes flying through the air above her exactly where Lydia’s body had been a second ago. Wide eyed, Lydia turns her head just in time to see a dark figure in the doorway behind her. Feeling paralyzed with fear and panic, she blinks and it’s gone.

Lydia feels the burn from where her bare knees rubbed against the carpet when she fell to the ground, but her mind has gone quiet. That gives Lydia enough room for a single thought, _ALLISON._

The banshee whips her head back to face the hunter but she is too late. Allison is no longer standing, but is sprawled out on the ground in a massive pile of blood. She sees the sharp object stuck in her chest.  Once again, she was too late. Once again, her best friend is dying in front of her and there is nothing she can do about it.

Lydia scurries over to her best friend, whose body is lifeless on the ground. Frantic, she pulls Allison’s head into her lap, letting the brunette tangles sprawl over her skirt while blood gets all over the banshee’s arms and legs. The hunter’s eyes are glazed, and Lydia can tell she is having trouble keeping them open.

“Allison?” Lydia whispers holding the girl’s head in her hands while staring into her eyes as the life drains out of them.

Allison lets out rugged breaths. Gasping, as if each one may be her last. A single tear falls from her eye as she speaks, “I’m so proud of you.” She lets out another breath, “Lydia, I’m so proud of you.”

“No,” Lydia says flatly, “I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep watching you die.” She shakes her head, partially sobbing, and her red hair is getting mangled and drenched with tears.

“It’s okay,” the hunter says as more tears escape down her ghostly skin, “you’re my best friend. You’ll always be my best friend. I’ll never forget you, Lydia.”

“Is this real?” Lydia asks the girl who is dying in her very arms. “It can’t be real, you can’t be dying again.” 

She doesn’t answer. Instead she lets out a huff and sucks in another breath and says, “Just remember it was for you…”

Allison’s head falls limp in Lydia’s hands.

It’s too much. Lydia is shaking and sobbing uncontrollably calling out for her best friend who can’t hear her. Too much tension is building up in her head and she has too let it out. She needs to let it out. And so she does….

“ALLISON!” Lydia screams as loud as she can manage. It’s a piercing scream, loud enough to be heard miles away…

Minutes pass as Lydia stays kneeled there on the ground with Allison’s head in her lap. The scream relieved the tension in her head and it is quiet once again. Lydia gently places the hunter’s head on the carpet and squeezes her eyes closed.

Lydia hears the creak of a door and the thud of footsteps coming from downstairs. Her eyes dart open and she looks down and her head spins. Allison is gone. There is no blood. Lydia is kneeling alone on the carpet of a seemingly normal bedroom. The footsteps continue and Lydia gets up and bolts to the only other open door in the bedroom and latches the lock behind her. It’s a small bathroom with a single window facing out onto the street. She flicks the light above the mirror on and looks at herself.

She notices that she looks actually crazy. Her hair is tangled and mascara is running down her face. The other makeup she was wearing is now nonexistent and her eyes are puffy and red. She looks weak and fragile. Lydia knows if there is one thing she is not, it’s not a scared little fragile and weak girl.

Squinting her eyes at herself in disgust she turns the water on and rubs it over her face. She removes the mascara trail and rubs her eyes. There is someone in the house with her right now, who could be a murderer, and she’s standing here fixing her appearance. That makes her smirk.

_Yupp, I definitely look crazy._

She starts running her fingers through her hair when she hears footsteps coming up the stairs.

 

Lydia looks around the room until she finds what she’s looking for. She grabs a t-shirt off of the tiled floor and wraps it around her wrist.

_This is how they always do it in books and movies._

She takes a deep breath and looks back into the mirror. She is not weak. She is strong. With that, she pulls her arm back and punches into the mirror as hard as she can and with as much might as she can. Too her surprise, it shatters underneath her fist.

_Damn. Take that werewolf strength. Score one for banshees._

She grabs one of the bigger and more jagged glass pieces that fell into the sink and turns around towards the door. She can hear movement on the other side. Someone is in the bedroom.

After another deep breath she feels ready. She knows her plan and what she has to do to get out. What she isn’t ready for is what she hears next...

“Beacon County Sheriff’s Department,” a male voice calls out, “this is a crime scene. I know you’re in there. Show yourself.”

Lydia raises her eyebrow in slight confusion. She knows she’s heard the voice before but she can’t quite place it. She doesn’t loosen her grip on the glass shard in her hand as she flicks the lock on the door and lets it slowly open while shielding herself from sight.

The first thing she sees is deputy badge on the arm of a sheriff’s jacket. She breathes a sigh of relief as she moves into sight. Her breath halts and her arm raises thought at the sight of a gun barrel pointed directly at her face.

Wide-eyed she looks into the eyes of the young deputy.

_Parrish. Of course._

For a second they both just stand there speechless with a gun drawn and glass raised. Deputy Parrish is the first to look down at the glass in Lydia’s hand and looks back up at her face and instantly drops his weapon. Lydia does the same. Parrish lets out a sigh as he secures his weapon back in its holster.

They both step out of the bathroom into the bedroom. Lydia’s eyes immediately flick to the spot where she had been cradling her best friend’s body just moments ago. The carpet is still clear of blood and a body.

There is one thing that isn't gone though. Parrish notices it too. He walks over to the window that Allison was standing in front of and sticking out of the wall just a few inches away from the frame is a tomahawk.

“A tomahawk?” he says questioningly. He looks over to Lydia with a look of concern. “You were attacked in here?”

Lydia nods and she’s not sure if she is doing it to answer his question or if she is just in shock and that’s the only movement she has.

"That explains the glass then," Parrish says to himself while saying other things but Lydia zones out.

_So the attack actually happen? But she was only imagining Allison... Or was she? Why did her assailant run away and not finish the job?_

She had too many question and not enough answers.

********************

“So now tell me,” Sheriff Stilinski says, “how did you happen to come across all of these… bodies?”

Lydia doesn’t hear Deputy Parrish’s response from where she is standing. Another deputy is asking her questions at the entrance of the “game” locker while she is trying to eavesdrop on the sheriff’s conversation.

She answers his questions while looking past him at the Sheriff. Parrish must have mentioned her because the Sheriff turns and meets her gaze.

“Why am I not surprised?” the Sheriff says and he starts walking away from the corpses over to Lydia.

“Banshee thing?” he mouths at her.

Lydia nods her head at him.  She thinks back to just ten minutes ago when she and Parrish had found the entrance to the passage that led to this storage freezer full of bagged up human bodies. She knew it was her inner banshee leading her to wall that housed the passage door because there is no way she would have found it any other way.

She starts to speak but closes her mouth when she sees the Sheriff shoot an irritated look behind her.

“What the hell,” the sheriff says, “once again why am I not surprised? What are you doing here, Stiles? No, more importantly... how are you here? We didn’t announce anything over the scanner to keep all of this quiet” The sheriff gestures around him to the bodies hanging from the ceiling of the Walcott's strange hidden freezer.

The teenage boy behind them is out of breath. He must have sprinted all the way through the house to get here. His eyes meet Lydia but flick right back up to his father as if he is picking his battles one at a time.

“Malia…” he huffs, “heard…”

Stilinski interrupts him before Stiles can spit out anymore.

“Oh right,” he says to his son, “werewolf… coyote thing? But what did she hear?”

Stiles nods towards Lydia but doesn’t acknowledge her in any other way. Of course Malia heard her scream when she was upstairs. The whole pack, no, the whole supernatural world probably heard her scream.

The Sheriff looks down at Lydia putting the information together, “so where is she then?”

Stiles finally regains his breath, “there was a slight, minuscule, problem at lacrosse tryouts.”

The Sheriff rolls his eyes as if trying to hold in what he really wants to say.

Stiles speaks faster, “and someone might be in the hospital and other stuff and Malia went with Kira to help Scott with Liam and so here I am.” He lets it all out like it’s no big deal.

_What happened at lacrosse tryouts? Who’s Liam?_

Lydia doesn’t get the chance to actually ask and she doesn’t even know if Stiles would answer her if she did because he is probably still upset about earlier.

The Sheriff walks past Lydia over to his son and it sounds like there is some scolding going on. Lydia takes a step and leans against the wall and closes her eyes...

“I have to remember to never underestimate you,” Lydia hears from beside her.

She opens her eyes and turns to see Deputy Parrish standing behind her. She shrugs as if it’s no big deal that she has a secret talent of locating bodies post-mortem.

“Are you still referring to the psychic thing?” Lydia asks and she can’t help but give a small smile.

“Oh I definitely believe,” Parrish says, “you don’t?”

“You’d be surprised at what I’ve seen,” Lydia answers, “and I wish I could call it all a coincidence.”

Parrish looks at her as if her comment confuses him.

“Why can’t you then?” he asks.

Lydia shrugs not knowing what to say at this point without explaining to this unknowing person about the actual world he lives in. It doesn’t matter though because the Sheriff interrupts them. 

“Parrish,” he says sternly with his cell phone in his hand, “we have to get to the hospital. Now.”

Parrish nods swiftly and Stiles runs up to the three of them looking confused.

“Hospital?” Stiles asks, “What happened at the hospital?”

The Sheriff doesn’t answer him instead he yells back at the only other deputy in the cold freezer to call a coroner and keep everything low key for now. Lydia and Stiles follow the sheriff and the deputy out of the freezer through the passageway back into the main part of the house.

Before they get to the front door the sheriff looks back at the two teenagers.

“I mean it Stiles,” he says, “If I find out about you going near the hospital tonight or follow us there, you are grounded for the rest of your life. I cannot be more serious.”

Stiles just looks at him with wide eyes and nods. That’s how you can tell that Stilinski means business.

“Now you two,” the sheriff says gesturing to Stiles and Lydia, “go home. Lydia we can talk about what happened here tomorrow. You should get some rest. And you,” he points at Stiles, “go home and study or something.”

Without another word the two officers leave the house and drive away in Parrish’s police cruiser leaving Stiles and Lydia alone on the porch watching them go.

Lydia looks up at Stiles and notices how disheveled he looks. There is dirt smeared on his face and covering his lacrosse outfit. Lydia can’t help but think of the two of them side by side. They probably look like they were just victims of a mugging. On instinct, she reaches down and pats her skirt and straightens her blouse.

The air between them is tight and silent. Stiles is the first to speak.

“Look Lydia,” he says while turning to face her “I just came here to make sure you’re okay. You can answer me and tell me you’re fine but we both know you’re not. You don’t have to talk to me about it but I think you should talk to someone.”

Lydia looks at him sadly. Stiles has always been her rock and it hurts that he isn’t pressuring her to talk like he usually does.

“Stiles,” she says, “look I….”

He puts his hand up silencing her.

“Don’t say you’re sorry,” he says sincerely, “because I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have just brushed you off earlier but you shouldn’t try hiding things from me either. Or any of the pack for that matter.” 

“I only did it because I didn’t want this to happen. I didn’t want to hurt anyone,” Lydia says, “I also didn’t want to hurt you because I remember how long it took for things to go back to somewhat normal after she died.”

Lydia exhales and steps forward while taking a seat on the top porch step. Stiles follows sitting beside her but not too close.

“Whatever happened in there,” Stiles says while motioning his head back towards the house, “it’s not going to help to keep it all in. You could have been killed and on top of that you found a walk-in cemetery freezer. It’s okay to be freaking out.”

Lydia knows he’s not just talking about almost being attacked but about Allison. If Malia heard her scream then she knows what she screamed and that means Stiles knows too.  

She puts her head into her hands and exhales loudly.

“I just don’t know,” Lydia says, “it’s frustrating because I keep seeing these things that I don’t even know are real or not.”

“Trust me,” Stiles says softly, “I understand. I know what it feels like to not be able to tell the difference between what’s real and what’s not. It sucks and it’s confusing. I also know that you’re hurt. You’re not over what happened to Allison. None of us are. It’s affecting you and it’s affecting all of us but we can’t hide it from each other. We have to get through it together.”

“I know,” Lydia answers, “but it is different now. I can’t explain it, but something is happening.”

Stiles cuts her off.

“Something big is definitely happening around us,” he says while picking at a patch of dirt on his arm. Lydia notices that he is being a little distant.

“I just don’t think we are ready for it,” Lydia says while looking out onto the street towards the setting sun.

“We never are,” Stiles says, “But we always manage.”

It goes quiet again as neither of them speak. They both sit on the steps with a good foot between them, staring out onto the horizon. Thinking and contemplating. Lydia wants to just spill it all now. She wants to tell him and the pack that it’s more than just mourning Allison. She is seeing her and talking to her. And it’s not just in her dreams now. But she can’t.

Stiles’ phone breaks the silence. He takes it out from his pocket and reads the message on the screen.

“It’s Scott,” he says vaguely.

“Listen,” he says, “I have to go but promise me you’re going to be alright. Well I know you’re not alright, but are you going to be okay at least for tonight.”

Lydia shrugs as she watches the boy stand up and start walking down the stairs. 

_So much for not keeping things from pack members._

“Yes,” she lies, “I’ll be okay tonight, I promise.”

Unlike usually, Stiles doesn’t question her lie. He just gives her a sad smile that doesn’t reach his eyes and turns down the sidewalk towards his jeep. Before he climbs inside he calls out to her...

“And make sure your doors are locked."

Lydia doesn't move quite yet. She watches as he drives away from her. Leaving her feeling like the world is falling down around her. If anyone can understand what she is going through it is Stiles. But she isn’t quite ready to tell anyone exactly what’s happening to her. Not yet anyways. She knows that the pack will just look at her with pity and she hates that. She doesn’t want them to feel bad for her because she is having unsettling dreams and visions of her dead best friend.

 

“Oh Allison,” Lydia whispers to the sky, “what am I supposed to do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So far my longest chapter. They will keep getting longer (for the most part... I'm still new to this). Thanks for reading and I hope you're all enjoying!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time but I didn't want to leave this fic in the dust. I tired something new with this chapter just to get a different side to the story. So this chapter is told in Stiles' POV as opposed to Lydia's. I wanted to explore his side of things so this is kind of just a building up chapter. It isn't primarily focused on Lydia or the weird things she has been experiencing as opposed to the pack's feelings.

“What do you mean you know what attacked Lydia?” Stiles asks while turning towards his best friend. He stops pacing around the McCall’s living room long enough for Scott to answer him.

“I mean,” Scott says, “that whatever it was that attacked Lydia in the Walcott house also killed Sean Walcott’s family last night.” 

“So,” Stiles says in return,” the thing that brutally murdered a whole family, not to mention Sean tonight, saved you?” He puts his hands to his head. None of this is making sense to him yet. 

Scott asks the questions that Stiles was thinking “But why would it just kill Sean and leave? Especially if it tried to kill Lydia? It could have easily killed me tonight but it didn’t even try.”

“I have no idea,” Stiles says in all honesty. It really hadn’t hit him that his two closest friends were both inches from death tonight. Near-death experiences have become all too familiar to the pack to even phase him. 

The alpha sits down on the edge of his twin bed and rubs his hand through his hair.

“Okay Stiles here’s the plan,” Scott says.

Stiles takes a seat in the computer chair to stop him from pacing circles into the floorboards. 

“I didn’t know you had a plan,” he says.

“Well it’s not much,” Scott answers, “but I’m going to reach out to Argent and see if he knows anything.” 

Stiles watches as a wearisome look crossed over the alpha’s face. 

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Stiles asks, concerned. “Besides he hasn’t answered you for the last few months.”

“It’s worth another shot,” Scott says, “but in the meantime I’m going to talk to Deaton to see if he knows anything about killers without mouths.”

“Okay,” Stiles says. Deaton was usually the starting point with all of their plans. “What about the rest of us?”

“I know something is up with Lydia,” Scott says. “I need you to talk to her and figure out what’s going on.” 

Stiles already knew some of what was going on but he didn’t say anything.

The alpha continued, “we need her if we’re going to figure out who’s targeting supernatural creatures here in Beacon Hills.”

“Okay well what about Malia? And Kira?” Stiles asks.

“They’re going to help me,” Scott says, “Kira is going to come with me to talk to Deaton tomorrow and Malia…”

“Malia what?” Stiles asks.

“Malia is going to keep a tail on Liam in case he does anything,” Scott answers.

Okay, now Stiles was confused.

“What does Liam have to do with this?” he asks.

“There’s something I need to show you,” Scott says with an anxious look. 

Oh, god. What is happening?

“What now?” he asks as Scott stands up and starts walking towards the bathroom.

“Follow me,” his friend says and so Stiles gets up and walks into the bathroom not expecting what he is about to see.

When Scott draws back the shower, confusion and a bit of shock hit Stiles.

“What the hell is this?” Stiles asks as he stares at their fellow lacrosse team mate who is tied up in the tub with tape over his mouth. Liam Dunbar, the new kid on the lacrosse team that Stiles recognized from tryouts. The kid had knocked Stiles on his ass which wasn’t hard to do, but he even gave Scott a run for his money. 

But they had dropped him off at the hospital earlier that evening before Stiles went to the Walcott house. 

What was he doing here now then?

That’s when he noticed his leg. It was bent without hesitation. There wasn’t a look of pain on his face either, only terror. That’s impossible, he was certain that his leg had snapped when Scott hit him on the field.

Stiles already knew what was going on but Scott had yet to open his mouth.

“Hey buddy,” Stiles said to Scott, “want to tell me why you turned our little teammate here.”

“Well actually,” Scott said without looking at Liam only the ground, “I was hoping that you could help me talk to him.”

Stiles raised his eyebrow and looked at the freshman in front of him. The look on his face reminded him of not that long ago when Scott was first transitioning. Stiles grabbed Scott’s arm and led him out of the bathroom but not before closing the shower curtain again. 

“Tell me everything,” Stiles says and Scott obliges.  
Once he learned that Scott had no choice and he had to either bite him or let him die, Stiles took a second to process everything. He knew what he had to do and he followed Scott back into the bathroom to help the alpha enlighten his new beta on how his life from here on out was going to turn upside down.

 

The next day at school, Stiles had no idea how to approach Lydia. He knew he had been a little cold towards her the night before. He was hurt that she tried hiding these things from him. Especially when those things had to do with him. If she couldn’t trust him, who could she trust?

And without trust the pack would fall apart.

Stiles made it through the first part of the day without seeing Lydia or much of the pack at all really. He knew that Scott wanted him to help her but it was hard to do when she was being so damn stubborn about opening up. He didn’t blame her though. Even though it wasn’t him mentally, physically he almost killed her. He almost killed the whole pack. 

No I didn’t. It was the nogitsune. It wasn’t my fault. I had no control.

He found himself repeating that a lot these days. It’s hard to believe when he could remember everything the nogitsune did while he had control over his own body. 

As he was walking to his next class, math which was one of the few classes he shared with Lydia, Stiles’ phone started ringing. It was a welcome interruption from his thoughts.

“Stiles, Scott wants you over here now,” Malia says on the other end without waiting for any greeting. 

Malia skipped out on school today to help Scott like he said she was going to last night. Liam had ended up bailing on school after first period, so she was trying to keep tabs on him to make sure he didn’t do anything that would draw attention to himself. 

“Where are you guys?” Stiles asks the were-jaguar who he also guessed was kind of his girlfriend. He wasn’t quite sure if their relationship had an actual label or not. 

“At Scott’s. Kira is already here. She left right after lunch,” she says.

“Okay,” he replies while shoving his books back into his locker and grabbing his backpack, “I’m leaving now.”

“Bring Lydia,” Malia says right before she hangs up without even waiting for a response. 

Stiles groans. He knew he would have to interact with her at some point today.

 

On his way out of the high school, Stiles stops in front of the math classroom. Class had started two minutes ago so he hid unseen in the doorway. He watched as Lydia gazed intently at their teacher, absorbing everything she was saying. He wasn’t going to get her attention this way.

He took out his phone and typed a text telling Lydia that he was at the door and that she needed to come with him. 

He waited a few seconds and on cue Lydia pulled out her phone without being seen. She had a puzzled look on her face when she read it but she glanced up towards the door. When their eyes met Stiles motioned for her to come here.

Lydia raised her eyebrow but remained seated.

Stiles ushered for her again and this time she responded. He watched as she raised her hand to ask if she could go to the nurse because she wasn’t feeling well. Being Lydia, their math teacher didn’t think twice and she swept up her stuff and walked out the door.

They walked a couple of feet away from the door before she spoke.

“What is it Stiles?” she asks flatly.

“I don’t know,” he answers, shrugging, “pack meeting I guess. All I know is we are supposed to go to Scott’s now.”

Lydia puts her hand up to her forehead and closes her eyes for a split second as if she was contemplating the idea of skipping out on the rest of the day.

“Fine,” she says after a beat, “but you’re driving. My mom dropped me off today.”

Stiles raised his eyebrow this time.

“Why?” he asks, “is there something wrong with your car?”

Lydia didn’t speak. She shrugged instead and walked to her locker to get the rest of her stuff.

Stiles took that as she didn’t want to talk about it. Something else that she wasn’t going to trust him with.

 

When they arrive at Scott’s house after a car ride filled with an awkward silence, the rest of the pack is waiting for them. Scott, Kira, and Malia are sitting around Scott’s living room and Stiles takes a seat on the armchair while Lydia sits on the couch next to Kira.

“Alright,” Scott speaks first. Stiles could see the exhaustion spread across the alpha’s face. “We need to figure out what to do about Liam.”

“Oh right,” Lydia says with an eye roll, “because on top of a mysterious murderer who seems to be hunting down supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills we also have to worry about being exposed to the world by a freshman.”

Scott took a deep breath. Stiles knew his best friend more than anyone. He could tell that he was feeling guilty. If Liam didn’t join their pack he wouldn’t make it. 

“I could put him down,” Malia suggests, breaking the silence. 

The rest of the pack turns to face her, Stiles included.

“What?” she asks defensively, “it was just an idea.”

“He’s not going to die,” Scott says, “not if I can help it.”

If there was anything that Scott could do better than anyone it was help others.

“Okay,” Kira says with her eyes on Scott, “what do we do?”

“We need to get him to trust us,” Scott says without hesitation. 

That wasn’t going to be easy. Not after the incident last night. When Scott and Stiles took Liam out of the bathroom to let him know what was happening he didn’t believe a word they said. Why should he? They basically kidnapped him for all he knew. When Scott tried telling him that he was a werewolf, a beta, Liam just looked at them like they were crazy. When Scott flashed his eyes at him, Liam didn’t even look convinced. In the end, he ended up breaking free of them and fleeing. 

“He’s not going to come to us on his own,” Scott says, “and this weekend is a full moon so we have to act fast.”

“Scott,” Lydia interrupts, “sorry to damper this whole situation but do you even know what day it is? Tomorrow is Friday which means that we only have a little over 24 hours until the full moon.”

The alpha lets out a deep sigh and everyone remains quiet for a moment. “It’s okay,” he says reassuringly, “time has never been on our side but we always manage.”

“Alright,” Stiles says, “But do we even have a plan?”

“Well,” Scott answers, “that’s where Lydia comes in.” The alpha turns and looks at Lydia whose eyes widen at the mention of her name. It’s like she wasn’t even paying attention to anything going on.”

“What is it?” Lydia asks not sounding enthused. 

“It involves your lake house,” Scott says, “Do you think we’ll be able to use it tomorrow night?”

Lydia gives a look like she doesn’t want to say yes but she does.

“Great,” Scott replies, “now we just need a way to get Liam there. We can chain him up there for the night.”

“Wait a second,” Malia says, “that’s my space. What about me?”

Scott had already thought about that apparently. 

“Derek said you could use his loft,” the alpha says, “it’s sturdy and isolated. You’ll be safe from outsiders there.”

“I’ll go with Malia,” Stiles says. She still wasn’t in complete control over her changes and Stiles didn’t want her to be alone.

“No I’ll be fine Stiles,” she answers without any contemplation, “you help them with Liam.”

“You’re not going to be chained up alone in unfamiliar territory on a full moon,” Stiles interjects.

“Derek will keep an eye on her,” Stiles says eyeing Stiles. Of course he would. Malia was Derek's cousin but she didn’t know that and he didn’t want her to know. Not yet at least. 

Stiles was really hoping for a way out of the being at the lake house all night. Lydia was too frustrating to be around and now he had Malia to worry about. 

“How are we going to even get him there?” Kira asks. She usually is fully supportive of Scott’s plans but she didn’t sound totally convinced that this was going to work.

Scott looks at her and smiled sheepishly. “Well that’s actually where you come in.”

Kira looked confused now.

“I need you to invite Liam to the lake house for a party,” Scott explains, “But in reality it won’t be a party, but once he’s inside we’ll be there and there won’t be anywhere for him to go.” 

Kira opens her mouth to say something but closes it again.

“How am I supposed to do that?” the kitsune finally asks.

Lydia spoke up this time, “You’re a vixen. Use it.”

Kira looked a bit frightened. 

“So you basically want me to seduce him into going to a party with me where we are going to hold him against his will?”

“Well when you put it that way it does sound pretty bad,” Scott says, “but we don’t have another choice. I wouldn’t ask you to do something I didn’t think you could handle.”

Kira looks around the room for a second, hesitantly. “Consider it done,” she says.

 

Stiles had no idea how he was going to be of service here with Liam tonight. He didn’t have the super strength, or hearing, or any supernatural ability at all. He’s just human. Sometimes he wondered if the pack forgot that. 

Scott had assured him that wasn’t why he was here though. He really did want Stiles’ to find out what was wrong with Lydia and this would be the perfect time to do it. 

At seven o’clock he was at the lake house. He stood around the living room with Scott and Lydia waiting for the arrival of Kira and Liam. Stiles had talked to Malia on the way over and she said she was good. She felt controlled. The full moon wouldn’t be out fully for a little while and the pack couldn’t take any chances. Liam needed to get here fast.

There was no way this plan was going to go smoothly. As soon as Liam walked in the door and saw their expectant faces, he was going to try to bolt. He was going to be strong too. And angry. 

“Okay this plans sucks,” Stiles says bluntly. 

“Of course it sucks,” Lydia says, “but we don’t have anything else.”

Stiles and Lydia both turn to look at Scott.

The alpha clasps his hands together and takes a deep breath.

“I turned him,” Scott says, “So I’m responsible for him now. I’m his alpha. If we don’t get him locked up tonight there’s no saying what he will do on his first full moon.”

Lydia agreed silently by nodding her head. Stiles ran his hand up through his hair in anticipation.

“Well where are they?” he asks his supernatural friends, “We’re running out of time.”

A look of sheer concentration crossed Scott’s face. He was zoning in on something.

“Coming,” he says without explanation. He doesn’t need one either because not even a minute later the three of them hear the crunch of gravel underneath tires.

 

Liam must have known something was up the second he walked in the door but he didn’t say anything. He must believe them now after the healing and sensitivity to sound. Not to mention the unexplained strength. 

“So what is this exactly?” Liam asks. He has no knowledge of full moons and what they do to new werewolves.

“It’s an intervention of sorts,” Stiles says while clapping his hands together. 

After a brief overview of supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills, Liam is informed of the creatures that are standing right in front of him. 

“What was that?” Scott asks. 

Stiles didn’t hear anything and he doesn’t think the rest of the pack did either because they looked just as confused as him.

Except Liam.

“What was what?” Kira asks.

Then they all hear the familiar sound of gravel crunching under the tires of a vehicle. But it wasn’t just one vehicle. It sounded like multiple.

“Well…” Liam says, “She did say this was a party.” The young werewolf nods towards Kira.

“Liam,” Lydia says with a deep breath, “who did you invite?”

Liam raised his arms defensively, “I only told Mason… But Mason might have told everyone else.”

A wave of stress crosses Lydia’s face. The doorbell rings and multiple voices can be heard on the other side. 

“Stiles,” Scott says to him, “I’m getting Liam out of here. You guys get this under control.”

Scott urges Liam to follow him and to Stiles’ surprise, he does.

“What are we going to do?” Kira asks.

Lydia exhales, “we’re throwing a party.” 

Before she opens the door Lydia gives Stiles a worried look. Even though he didn’t know what was all running through the banshee’s head, he knew something was eating away at her and that she wouldn’t be able to handle this. This was supposed to be the time he needed to talk to her and get her to trust him again.

Timing’s a bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I really, really, wanted to include the party in this chapter because that was supposed to kind of the big action for Stydia. Instead, it began running long trying to build up to it so I decided I would just give it its own chapter as opposed to rushing it in. So this chapter really was an intro into the party and how they got to this point. I may dabble in his POV more but I'm not sure if I want to write the party from his. I hope to have the party chapter up very soon because it's already in the works! Thanks again for reading. This fic is just for fun and I hope you enjoy it and stick with it!


	5. Chapter 5

There were too many people. It was like the more people that showed up, the smaller the walls seemed to become. The “guests” were staggered in crowds throughout the main floor of the house laughing and chatting noisily. It was too loud. Everything seemed intensified. Voices were piercing and shrilling. The thumping and buzzing of the music made it impossible to think.

A loud crash broke Lydia out of her daze. The crash was then followed by a shatter.

“What the hell was that,” the banshee said to no one in particular as she began storming towards the source of the commotion.

When Lydia reached the kitchen she let out a sigh of relief. On the floor in front of the fridge was the ceramic vase that had been hand crafted and painted by her grandmother. It was unharmed. The object next to it was not so lucky.

Lydia looked up at a surprised teen who was standing on the counter in front of her.

“That was a crystal Chateau Baccarat wine glass,” she exclaimed, “they cost $200 each.”

The boy opened his eyes wide and placed the other two glasses that he was holding back in the cupboard above the fridge.

As he climbed down from the counter, Lydia grabbed her grandmother’s vase and set it in the cupboard under the sink for safe keeping.

“Woah calm down,” the boy said with a slur, “it was just a glass.”

Lydia took a deep breath and clenched her fists.

“Just a glass…,” she began to say when he cut her off.

“I can help clean it up,” he said as he stumbled by her.

There was no way Lydia could tolerate another second of this guy. People like him made her want to just give up on teenage boys for good.

“Maybe you should get out of here,” a voice not belonging to Lydia or the drunk boy said. She turned and saw a tall, blonde guy walking towards them.

The obviously not sober guy that Lydia didn’t recognize at all looked back in forth between her and the blonde.

“Sure, whatever,” he said nonchalantly, “party’s not in here anyways.”

Lydia exhaled a sigh of relief. She was glad to be rid of him because frankly all she could think about was how much damage he could have caused.

“Thanks,” Lydia said to the blonde. She knew she had seen that face somewhere but she couldn’t remember where, “but I could have handled it.”

“Hey,” he said while throwing his arms up in surrender, “I’m just trying to help.”

Lydia smiled just a little before she went and grabbed a broom and dustpan out of the kitchen closet. When she walked back towards the broken glass the cute blonde reached out his hands.

“Let me,” he said almost greedily, “it’s the least I can do since you’re the host.”

Lydia didn’t hesitate to hand over the broom, “thanks….”

“Garrett,” he said before she even had to ask.

“Well thanks, Garrett,” she said more properly that time.

He nodded and began sweeping with a grin plastered on his face.

 

“Lydia,” a familiar voice yelled from behind her, “there you are.”

It was Kira. A relieved expression crossed the dark-haired girl’s face when Lydia began walking towards her.

“Have you heard from Scott?” she asked the banshee, “I went to check on him and Liam but he wasn’t in the basement and he’s not answering his phone.”

“Actually yeah,” Lydia said, “he texted me a while ago and said he was taking Liam to the boathouse instead. He thought it would be better to have him away from everyone.”

 

Kira nodded, “Yeah that makes sense.”

There was a brief pause as Lydia watched the worry subside slightly off the kitsune’s face.

“You should go see if he needs help,” Lydia suggested.

She knew that Kira will do nothing but worry until she actually goes and sees Scott.

“Really?” she asked, “Don’t you need me here to help, you know, control the party?”

Lydia gave her friend a small smile and set her hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

“I’ll be fine,” Lydia lied, “Go. Besides Stiles is around here somewhere.”

Kira grinned wrapped Lydia in a hug. “Thanks,” she said, “I’ll be back.”

After Kira left, the only thing Lydia could think about was that she hadn’t seen Stiles since the party started. She was sure he was done giving her the cold shoulder because he had spoken to her at school today and before the party earlier.

 

Lydia had thought that everyone in Beacon Hills who knew about the party was already in attendance when the doorbell rang. Besides, people had stopped using the doorbell an hour ago and started to walk right in.

When she opened the door this time, she saw a single, unfamiliar face.

An unfamiliar face who was also pushing a crate with a keg sitting on top.

“I didn’t order this,” Lydia said to the deliver guy wearing a nametag that read _Demarco_.

“This your party?” he asked her. He looked above her head into the party going on inside.

“Yes,” Lydia answered flatly, “but I didn’t order any kegs. Especially not ones filled with domestic.”

The delivery guy didn’t seem to care because he took out a receipt book from the front pocket of his shirt.

“Well someone here did,” he said while trying to hand the receipt to Lydia but she pulled her hand back instead.

He held the slip of paper in front of her face.

“Well someone has to pay for it,” he said.

Lydia contemplated returning inside and slamming the door in his face when someone ran up behind her.

“Wait,” a voice called from behind Lydia, “that would be me.”

Lydia turned her head and saw Garrett reach for the delivery guy’s receipt. This time Lydia recognized where she has seen him from. He was on the lacrosse team with Stiles and Scott.

“Okay then,” the delivery guy smirked, “where do you want them?”

Lydia closed her eyes and tried to think. It’s hard to hear your own thoughts when there is buzzing coming from inside your head that you can’t control.

“The back porch would be less messy and easy to clean up,” Garrett suggested.

Lydia looked up at him and nodded. There was no way she wanted that thing inside the house.

“Yeah fine,” Lydia said. Garrett grinned again.

“Great,” he said to the delivery guy while clasping his hands together, “I’ll show you the way.”

After the two take off through the house to the back porch, Lydia took a seat on the front steps. She continued to sit outside for a while to help try and clear her head from the chaos inside. She wished she knew where Stiles was but knew he was probably doing the best he could do to make sure nothing went wrong inside. He was being protective of her by being protective of her stuff. He was always protecting her and that made Lydia feel even guiltier about not opening up to him before about Allison.

As if on cue, Lydia heard something coming from the other side of the house. It was the sound of twigs being crunched under footsteps.

Lydia began walking towards the noise without thinking twice. In that moment there was only one thing running through her mind.

Allison.

She turned the corner to face the other side of the house but nothing was there. Her head was pounding though. Something had to be here she was sure of it.

And she was right. There was a slight crunching of twigs underfoot again.

Except this time, the sound was coming from behind her.

Then everything went black.

 

**************************************

 

This was his third trip around the house and Stiles still couldn’t find Lydia. The last time he saw her, she was talking to Kira and everything seemed fine. Now, he had wandered around everywhere in this house including the upstairs and basement and the banshee was nowhere in sight.

To say that he was worried would be an understatement. He hadn’t seen Kira since and he hadn’t heard from Scott or Liam at all. Not only that, but he had no idea if Malia was even human right now or if she lost control and broke free. Derek was the best at helping with control so that eased the boy’s mind a little.

When he was making his way through the living room he was approached by a somewhat familiar face.

“Hey, Stiles right?” the dark-skinned boy he knew as Mason asked. Mason was a freshman and Stiles only knew about him because he was always hanging around Liam.

“Yeah,” Stiles said without meeting Mason’s gaze, “what’s up?” He was too busy scanning the room for the sight of a strawberry blonde head to pay much attention.

“I was wondering if you’ve seen Liam,” Mason says, “he’s the one who invited me but I haven’t seen or heard from him since I got here.”

Stiles nodded his head sideways.

“Yeah, no, can’t say that I have,” he said back to Mason even though he somewhat knew where Liam was.

_Well actually, you see Mason, you’re good friend Liam here is actually a werewolf and my good friend Scott has him chained up somewhere. I hope. And given that it is a full moon and all, he probably has already turned and could rip you and anyone here to shreds._

 

  
Stiles didn’t say that out loud though.

Mason started saying something else but Stiles cut him off mid-sentence when he saw her.

She had walked right past him like she didn’t even realize he was there. It was like she didn’t realize anyone was there. Stiles hadn’t had a chance to see her face because she was already past him when he realized it was her. He would recognize that hair anywhere though.

Stiles was frozen where he was standing with his eyebrow cocked up and Mason still rambling next to him. He kept his eyes glued to the back of the banshee’s head. Something was off. Everything felt wrong.

“Lydia,” he called out but she didn’t stop or turn around. She just kept walking. Stiles began to follow her. He walked slow enough to keep her in sight but not fast enough to ambush her.

“Lydia, wait,” he called out again.

He noticed what was off now. Her usually pristine clothes appeared roughed up and had dirt smeared on them. Her curly hair was matted and had small tangles. In fact, it looked like she had just spent time rolling on the ground outside.

He called louder now while following her up the stairs a little faster. When he reached the landing, the hallway was quiet, dark, and deserted. Well deserted besides the two of them. She was facing a door and was wiggling the handle back and forth with intense force when he approached her.

“Allison,” she called to the other side of the door. It was the first time that she had spoken since Stiles spotted her. Her voice was panicky and cracking. Stiles couldn’t help but take in the sight with a punch to his gut.

With each call of their fallen friend’s name, it felt like Lydia was stabbing Stiles in the stomach a little deeper each time while twisting the knife. His breathing hitched.

“Lydia, stop,” he said while finally taking action by grabbing the banshee’s arm.

The contact must have done something because Lydia stopped calling out the name and turned up to face him.

When she did, Stiles immediately felt sick.

 

There was dried blood crusted on her forehead from a gash on the side of her forehead near her temple. She has dirt smeared on her cheek and it looks as if the life is drained from her eyes. They are her eyes. Green and shining, but it was like she wasn’t the one looking through them. It was like she was in a daze.

Almost like she was sleepwalking.

He turned towards her so that she was fully facing him and took her shoulders in his hands. Gently, he shook her, trying to break her out of her trance.

“Lydia wake up,” he said with panic in his tone, “what happened to you?”

It didn’t work. Instead, she wiggled out of his grasp and tried to open the door again.

“No one is in there Lydia,” Stiles exclaimed, “she’s not there!”

It was no use. Lydia couldn’t hear him.

“It’s locked,” he said out loud even though she wasn’t registering anything he was saying, “here let me show you.”

Stiles un clenched his hands and wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans before he placed a hand on top of the door knob.

On top of Lydia’s hand.

Slowly, he turned the knob with his hand while keeping a firm grasp on hers. Except this time, he heard a latching sound and the door opened.

_Okay, I know I watched Lydia fight like hell to get this door open. Why the hell did it open now?_

  
Before she had the chance to enter, Stiles pushed Lydia behind him and slowly pushed the door open with his free hand. He took a couple steps into the room. Before he could search for a light switch, the door thudded shut behind them. The sound caused his heart to start beat excessively.

He took a couple of deep breaths to try and control the pounding in his chest. Lydia was quiet next to him and her hand was still firmly locked in his. He could feel her fingers start to squirm so he slowly released her hand hoping she was coherent enough to remember where the light switch was.

Stiles started running his hands along the walls, searching, anyways.

His fingers finally ran across a plastic texture sticking out of the wall. He flicked the switch upwards but wasn’t prepared for the blinding light. The room was all white, like literally white walls, ceiling, and carpet. It took a second for his eyes to adjust to the light before his vision cleared up.

When he could finally see again, he spotted Lydia across the square room from him. Her back was facing him but he wasn’t looking at that.

He was looking at the body sprawled out in front of her.

More importantly, the dead body.

He ran up to Lydia and pushed her back and away. There was a small pool of blood where the victim’s head had been detached from its body. Stiles didn’t recognize the man that had been decapitated in this very room. When he got up closer, he noticed that he was wearing some kind of uniform. There was a name on his shirt that read Demarco.

Stiles took a deep breath. Sure he was used to dead bodies by now but it didn’t make it any easier. Someone was murdered and he didn’t know if it was that night or some other time. The body didn’t look as if it has been rotting there for a long time though. The blood hadn’t even completely dried.

There was no way that it wasn’t a fresh kill but Stiles wished he could believe otherwise. There was a killer lurking around somewhere, but there was no way that it could have been the man with no mouth. Someone would have easily noticed him. Hell, the guy had no mouth.

Stiles turned away from the body and focused his attention back on the girl in front of him. He could see her shoulders shaking and her hands trembling. The banshee’s eyes were wide but unclear. Her mouth was moving but no sound was coming out.

Stiles then realized what needed to happen.

“Scream Lydia,” he instructed the banshee while grabbing hold of her shoulders and looking into her distant eyes.

Nothing. Stiles moved his face closer this time and put a hand up to her cheek.

“Please Lydia,” he begged, “you need to scream.”

Nothing again. He dropped his head down on hers this time so they were touching forehead to forehead. He could feel her jagged breath on his chin. He tightened his grip on her shoulders and let out a deep breath before he yelled...

“Lydia scream!”

It came out more like an order but as soon as the words escaped his lips he was met by a deafening, high-pitched sound.

A painful sound that caused him to fall to his knees while covering his ringing, burning ears with his hands. He didn’t even hear or notice Lydia’s body crash down on the ground next to his because the ringing in his ears was too powerful.

All he could do was close his eyes and place his head against the ground while waiting for the pain to subside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, thanks for taking the time to read! I'd love to hear any comments/suggestions. I am planning to do some minor editing and revisions/grammar work on the previous chapters before posting again. I'm not planning on any major changes but I certainly want to polish it up so there may be some differences here and there just so you all know before you read again!


End file.
